For its third year (and as part of its social impact drive) the 3Music Awards scheme will, via the Women’s Brunch initiative, particularly highlight the harsh realities, and yet the remarkable resilience of female musicians navigating the labyrinth that is the Ghana music scene.

While the terrain can be daunting, it is especially so for the female practitioner and bares itself in the troubling underrepresentation of women in the industry. This gender imbalance can be attributed to “lack of access to a support network” as well as daily reports of abuse and marginalisation, per observations of the 3Music establishment.

“Young girls particularly face an added challenge of scaling over sexual exploitation, abuse, toxic social perceptions, disrespect and attacks via social media that creates a difficult environment for them to thrive thereby affecting their numbers at the top.” In addition, “women that manage to break the ceiling have an added challenge of fighting off bad social perceptions and baseless attacks driven from toxic socio-cultural perceptions. Notable Ghanaian female talents & celebrities in the arts have all been victims of unfair social attacks & shaming via social media & in the media.”

The Sadiq Abdulai Abu- led outfit also notes that this sends the wrong message to women interested in pursuing various public disciplines such the arts and politics—something the scheme hopes to correct. “As a major music event, 3Music Awards seeks to use its platform to not only highlight these but also celebrate Women who have excelled and impacted society to encourage society to give more opportunity to women.”

The Women’s Brunch, according to organisers, will spearhead a campaign that will project new narratives pertaining to opportunities and support for women and their right to personal development. Another cardinal motive is to drive a “massive call for affirmative action to ensure a safe space for Ghanaian women to operate.”

Furthermore, the initiative calls for the participation of policymakers and gatekeepers in denouncing toxic social tags and repairing systemic marginalisation that has calcified over many years.

The 3Music Women’s Brunch holds on March 8 (International Women’s Day) with seasoned media and entertainment professional and female empowerment advocate, Mrs Whitney Boakye Mensah as executive producer. The main 3Music 2020 awards night has been slated for March 28.

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